Mexico City, October 13, 2022.
Green or ecological taxes are a generalized trend at the international and national level. Some Mexican states, with the intention of raising revenue levels and implementing decarbonization actions, have implemented several green taxes, whose tax burden is significant.
The progress made by the State of Querétaro, which at the beginning of the year incorporated into the State Finance Law, reforms to integrate the Ninth Chapter, called Ecological Taxes. Through this Ninth Chapter, 3 taxes were added, namely: (i) Tax for Environmental Remediation in the Extraction of Materials; (ii) Tax for the Emission of Gases into the Atmosphere; and (iii) Tax for the Final Disposal of Special Handling and Hazardous Waste.
Although the reforms came into effect in 2022, according to statements made by the Secretary of Sustainable Development of the State of Queretaro, it is yet to be defined whether they will become effective at the beginning of 2023 or whether there is any possibility of postponement. However, there are initiatives in the Local Congress that aim to reform the Environmental Code, and it will be necessary to be alert to other initiatives to modify environmental laws, such as the State Climate Change Law and the Environmental Protection Law for Sustainable Development of the State of Queretaro.
The following are some brief comments on these taxes:
Tax for Environmental Remediation in the Extraction of Materials
This contribution is intended to be made effective through extraction record books submitted to the Secretariat of Finance and the Secretariat of Sustainable Development.
The purpose of the tax is the extraction, in the State, from the soil and subsoil of materials that constitute deposits of the same nature as the components of the land, veins, mantos, natural deposits or geological deposits of stone aggregates, gravel, stone, tezontle, tepetate, sand, sandstone, tepecil or any non-metallic material derived from rocks or from sedimentation or metamorphism processes.
This tax will be levied per cubic meter and both metallic and non-metallic minerals are defined as high and low environmental impact minerals for the application of the tax rate.[1]. The list of these materials includes: sand, sandstone, tezontle, tepetate, gravel, granite, marble, onyx, among others. As a result, the construction sector and other industries that use these types of materials could be affected and a rise in the prices of these elements could be expected.
The tax must be paid by means of a declaration to be filed no later than the 22nd day of the month immediately following the month in which the materials were extracted, applying the corresponding quota to each cubic meter of the product that is the object of the extraction.
Tax on Atmospheric Gases Emissions
This tax is levied on emissions into the atmosphere of certain substances generated in the production processes carried out in the State and which produce the effects indicated in Article 83-Bis 8 of the Tax Law.
For purposes of this tax, the emission into the atmosphere of substances subject to reporting in the Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTR), required by the Secretariat of the Environment and Natural Resources (the Federation), as well as the Secretariat of Sustainable Development (state sphere), are considered for the following compounds: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluoro-carbons, petrofluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride (greenhouse gases or GHG).
The taxable base for determining this tax is the tons and, particularly, the conversion of these compounds to tons of CO2equivalent.
An annual payment will be made and there is an obligation to submit an informative declaration to the Secretariat of Sustainable Development.
It also stipulates the obligation to obtain a report of emission inventories issued by inspection agencies or verification units, which must be registered or authorized by the Ministry of Sustainable Development. Hence, an increasing number of agencies and verification units are in a position to "endorse" the amount of emissions of these components into the atmosphere by industries.
Tax on the Final Disposal of Special Handling and Hazardous Waste
The purpose of this tax is the final disposal of special handling waste in sanitary landfills, landfill banks or public or private final disposal sites located in the State, as well as the temporary storage or controlled confinement of hazardous waste in the State, which, upon its release into the environment, constitutes a toxic or hazardous waste, which causes risk effects on human health, ecosystems or the ecological balance.
The taxable amount is the amount in tons of special handling waste deposited or stored in the sites referred to in Article 83 BIS-14 of the Law or in the sites referred to in Article 83 BIS-14 of the Law. per ton of hazardous waste landfilled in the stateThe information reported annually by taxpayers through the Single Environmental License and the Annual Operation Card, as well as the respective Waste Management Plans, may be used as support to identify waste.
Individuals, legal entities and economic units classified as large generators in terms of the General Law for the Prevention and Integral Management of Waste that, under any title, by themselves or through intermediaries, carry out the final disposal of waste, as well as the temporary storage or controlled confinement of hazardous waste referred to in the Tax Law, are subject to this tax, regardless of their tax domicile.
The lawyers of the tax and environmental area of the Firm, are at your service to answer any questions regarding the referred ecological taxes.
ATTENTION,
Gerardo Nieto
nieto@basham.com.mx
Gil Zenteno
zenteno@basham.com.mx
Alejandro Barrera
barrera@basham.com.mx
Victor Barajas
mbarajas@basham.com.mx
Francisco J. Matus
Juan Carlos Serra
serra@basham.com.mx
Paulina Fabara
Carolina Nogal
cnogal@basham.com.mx
[1] MATERIAL UMA
Non-metallic minerals with low environmental impact 0.20
Non-metallic minerals with high environmental impact 0.50
